


MINNEAPOLIS 

1857 - 1859 




Class JlkiA 
Book . 



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Copyright N 



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COFn^tGIlT DEP03iX^ 



MINNEAPOLIS 

1857-1859 



For My Life 
Comrade 



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MINNEAPOLIS 
A SHORT REVERSAL OF HUMAN THOUGHT 



Being the Letters 
and Diary 

of 

Mr. Harlow A. Gale 

1857 to 1859 '' 



A rranged and Edited 
by his wife 



Printed Privately 
For His Grandchildren 



COPYRIGHT 

1922 



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#1 19 '22 



Cs ©CI.A677215 



Foreword 

When Mr. John Burroughs came to the summit of 
years he wrote, 'It makes a vast difference whether we see 
the past as poetry or whether we see it as science." 

As I now view Hfe the great need seems to be Union 
of poetry and science. Opposing forces are growing al- 
together too numerous in a world made for order, beauty 
and progress. Minnesota's constant North Star, the han- 
diwork of God, is our appointed guide. 

Happy the resilient spirit beneath it, who has a friendly 
greeting for all on the social highway of mortals, and lends 
grace to the common walks of life. 

The letters and diary which follow are the record of 
the days' or weeks' doings hastily written, and frequently 
not reread. The letters were written mainly from Minne- 
apolis to Miss Elizabeth C. Griggs, then living in Bristol, 
Connecticut, one of these years being spent in her father's 
home, — the other year in the Boarding School of Mrs. At- 
water, West Haven, Conn. 

Mr. Gale came to Minneapolis from Massachusetts in 
August, 1856. In May, 1857, his brother, Mr. Samuel C. 
Gale, arrived and with him four other men to preempt land. 

Elizabeth Griggs Gale. 



Introductory Ride 

\/f AY 12, 1857. "I bought a pair of horses and provision 
enough for the party to last them a month; hired a 
cook, and with guns and ammunition in abundance, we 
started for the grand prairie, one hundred miles to the west 
through the Big Woods. I had been through once before 
earlier in the spring and knew the way ; to the others it was 
wild and new. I can't tell you of our various adventures 
by flood and field, fording streams, struggles in sloughs, 
grand drives in the old woods, game in abundance, deer, 
ducks, and geese, four days through the continuous woods, 
and on a beautiful May morning we suddenly broke out 
on the great prairie, reaching away westward to the Mis- 
souri river, five hundred miles. Four miles further on, as 
the sun, the glorious western sun, went down, we drove 
up to the log hotel of Hutchinson, a town founded by the 
Hutchinson singers a year ago. Judson and Asa were there 
and we all had some fine singing. 

'The next week we selected our claims surrounding and 
lying between two beautiful lakes, the largest of which, with 
an island in it, we modestly named ^Gale's Lake. I came in 
two days since, after more provision and tomorrow I return." 
And thus, amid these wildly fascinating scenes, the two 
brothers renewed the close friendship of youth and early 
manhood, never to be broken. 

*This lake in the southern part of Meeker County still bears the 
name. 

May 20. 'Tour days since I came in from our trip to 
the Grand Prairie. Tonight I am sadly in doubt what to 
write next. I have so much to tell you about our exploring 

Page Nine 



trip, our various adventures by field and flood. I told you, 
I believe, something of the scheme in my last. There were 
eight of us and we had a wild, novel time. Stuck in mud, 
washed off in creeks, washed down with the week's rain, 
day and night, and no better protection than the poorest 
kind of a puncheon roof which is just no protection at all 
after a half hour's rain. Nearly out of provision. Three 
days on corn meal pudding plain; that is, not a thing on it 
or with it. But we found splendid country, got some ex- 
cellent claims, had some rare sport fishing and hunting, and 
came back as rugged and ragged as a Chippewa Indian. A 
detailed account would be too long for this letter. I sent 
your father a quill for a pen from a white swan we shot on 
the lake where we camped — ^Gale's Lake — the boys called 

it You can hardly understand how much I am 

becoming attached to this beautiful town. Every morning 
and evening I discover fresh attractions, and when I ride 
out and approach the town — its rising roofs and towers, 
the charming openings around it, and the green, fresh 
prairie reaching away to the south, lervel for miles as a floor, 
checked up with cultivated fields, and the unbroken turf 
stretching away covered with wild flowers of endless vari- 
ety, — and coming nearer town the exciting music of a thou- 
sand plying hammers moves me as I was never moved be- 
fore and the whole scene so fills me " 

May 25. "Did you know? Now don't think I'm suf- 
fering from the western epidemic of inflation, — I'm not. 
I'm well and calm. I was about to speak of our diurnal 
drive, not excelled in the world. Minneapolis, 7 :(X) o'clock 
A. M., — team at the door. All ready. Come, Dick, Billy, 
let's off before it is hot and dusty. Up Helen Street, — stop 
a moment on the ridge and look hastily at the town reach- 
ing up, down, and across the river. The clear, steady dash- 

Pane Ten 



ing of the Falls, the shaq> stroke of the hammer, the click of 
the mason's trowel, and the thousand humming tones of 
trade and industry come up to us as we sit in our carriage. 
The quiet, sober cows, with each a bell of different tone, 
walk demurely by to their daily pasturage on the fresh 
prairie. Off we go on the road to Lake Calhoun and Har- 
riet, through the beautiful oak groves where the dew hangs 
heavy on the leaves, and then we're out on the smooth 
prairie; not a stone or a bush, never a plow and shovel on 
the road; so level, and the morning so exhilarating! Up, 
Billy, on past the farmhouses, and the fragrant, checkered 
fields of grain, sweep off to the right. Ho, ho, isn't it glori- 
ous ? What a road, what an air, and what a country ! Oh, 
what's this? Water! Drive down through those fine, old 
oaks. What a charming little lake resting in here, wooded 
on the other shore, but the smooth prairie on this side reach- 
ing away down thirty miles to the Minnesota River. Drive 
down along its shore, — hard, pebbly beach; get out and 
gather some of these fine specimen of cornelian stones. 

Five miles from Minneapolis; let's drive on this 

elevation. What a nest of lakes ! Lake of the Isles to the 
right. Cedar just beyond to the left. Nearly circular in form 
is Lake Harriet, the water clear and limpid and abounding 
with fish, — but we haven't time for that today. Now south- 
east four miles, — the gentle, rolling prairie, the dark green 
cornfields, the fast-ripening oats and wheat by them all. 
The road isn't fenced ; we may drive where we please, only 
avoiding the cultivated fields. You see that New England- 
looking farmhouse and barn ? Sure enough ! 'tis a New 
England man lives there ; he came in the territory ten years 
ago from New Hampshire; not ten white women in the 
whole territory ; married an Indian squaw, and has a dozen 
black-eyed, brown-cheeked children. 

Page Eleven 



''Another mile, we come to a fine creek, the outlet of 
jMinnetonka — Minne, Sioux, for water, — tonka, large, big, 
— Big Water. Cross the bridge, turn sharp to the left, drive 
not more than a hundred feet and you suddenly lose sight of 
the stream; it ripples along nearly level with its banks and 
drops perpendicularly one hundred feet. We get a little ex- 
cited. This is the spot where Hiawatha met and loved the 
beautiful Minnehaha. We are on classic ground. 

'From the waterfall he named her 
Minnehaha — Laughing Water.' 

'Tis the most finished, symmetrical waterfall in the United 
States, if not in the world. We go down to its base, and the 
men, and perhaps some adventurous lady, venture under and 
back of the falling crystal sheet, gather some polished peb- 
bles as a memento, and away down the river to the Fort, Fort 
SnelHng. And then (see Mitchell's map), what a glorious 
prospect ! Here we stand two hundred feet above the water 
at the junction of the Minnesota and Mississippi Rivers. 
We look; but we don't talk much, and I can't. We wind 
down the bluff, across the river, by the old swing ferry, 
clamber up again and off down the Mississippi River on its 
eastern shore. Six miles to St. Paul in season for dinner, 
but don't forget to stop a half hour at Franklin Cave. Lights, 
and a guide, we go down a plank walk, follow up a little 
streamlet and plunge into what looks like a railroad tunnel. 
Dark now — chilly, isn't it? This little stream makes it 
damp. We crook our way along single file some 25 rods, 
come into a large vault-like, or chamber — trace our names 
with lamp smoke on the walls of sandstone, wonder at the 
strange formation, and wish we'd now more time to go 
further. The keeper, an intelligent lad, — as we remark, 
"His business and manner have a Yankee look," says he 
"thinks likely," for he came from Lowell, Mass. 

Page Tzvelve 



**Down two and one-half miles to dinner at Fuller 
House, St. Paul; wait till the heat of midday is over, and 
back by the direct road 9 miles to Minneapolis. We come 
over the high roll back of St. Anthony just at sunset and 
get another fine view of the Twin Towns rising by the river ; 
cross the lower bridge, stop midway, — here we have the 
best complete view of the Falls. Above, where the current 
is still and deep, the sun gilds the water with its golden 
light, and, like a molten stream, it glides dow^n to the rapids, 
breaks into silver ripples, dashes in columns of foam down 
to the rocks and comes fretted and exhausted down towards 
us, growing more quiet as it approaches. But I must not 
scribble on in this manner. I fear it won't interest you and 
why should I write it? But you little suspect how much I 
am attached to my western home, and when attempting to 
write my eastern friends I involuntarily find myself falling 
into a detailed description of something in or about our 
embryo city." 

June 5. "The growth of this town is perfectly marvel- 
ous " 

June 6. "I believe I was talking of Minneapolis. I 
think the number of buildings has doubled since March. 
They average more than one a day. Tis exciting, I assure 
you. I don't know as you care about all this but it will help 
you to form some opinion of where I live. There are two 
Hotels going up, one 100 by 120 feet ; the other, 100 by 166 ; 
three churches ; schoolhouses and dwellings daily and 
nightly. Oh, we have a beautiful town! You may judge 
further of our attractions when I tell you that my brothers, 
Amory and S. C, are here, and today S. C. sent for his books 
and clothes. This will surprise Millbury friends, who think 
I am among Indians and wolves and a fit residence only for 
either a culprit or cannibal. S. C. is charmed with the place, 

Page Thirteen 



and, sub rosa, we are making arrangements to go into part- 
nership. In my wildest dreams I never expected all this so 
soon. Nearly all the family are out here now ; but you know 
Joseph, though the youngest, led his brethren down into 
Egypt. I only hope I shall not get them into as much diffi- 
culty as he did his family; and certainly, that it will not 
leave the descendents of my brethren in so dire a bondage 
as his." 

Soon after S. C.'s arrival a quartet was formed of the 
two Gales, Mr. C. M. Cushman, who roomed in the same 
office, and Mr. Joseph Clark. 

July 4. "What I did? S. C. was here and unac- 
quainted, so I invited no lady as other young men in town 
did, but invited S. C, and C. M. Cushman, brother of Mr. 
Joseph, of the firm of Cushman and Woods, and Mr. George 
H. Woods. Five or six hundred took a steamboat ride down 
the river and as many more had a picnic out five miles back 
of town on a cluster of lakes. About nine o'clock I har- 
nessed up Dick and Billy, the gentlemen furnished a dinner, 
and away we whirled over the prairie out to Lake Calhoun, 
— a very pretty sheet of water half surrounded with woods. 
We took possession of a large oak near the lake, kept quiet 
and cool, ate our dinner, sang, took a nap, and joined the 
rest of the company. Speeches and social intercourse for an 
hour, and away we went four miles, a delightful ride to 
Fort Snelling, at the mouth of the Minnesota and Mississippi 
Rivers ; then home by way of Minnehaha Falls. The waters 
never laughed with more glee than now, but 'tis nearly dark 
and we sweep on up the river, catch the roar of the Falls of 
St. Anthony, with an occasional rocket shooting up, premoni- 
tory symptoms of the general display in the evening. Put 
up the blacks and go to see the fireworks ; moderate in quan- 

Pa.ee Fourteen 



tity and still more in quality ; but it shows our good will and 
patriotism.'' 

July 10. "It has been a rainy, sober day in Minneapo- 
lis, and Woodman's Block has been unusually quiet. 'Tis so 
seldom we have an entire day of storm that everyone seems 
to have been kept indoors by it. No service in any of the 
churches this morning. Then we of this corner have been 
saddened and oppressed by an accident that occurred last 
eve. A man from up the river, badly intoxicated, in trying 
to go up the stairs to the hall in the third story, fell back- 
wards and, striking his head on the stone threshold, broke 
his neck and fractured his skull. His remains left town this 
evening for his home at Monticello. He has a wife and six 
children. The cold corpse at the door will be the first tidings 
of their terrible bereavement. This is the first death from 
accident in the place and you can understand why men look 
serious as they pass Woodman's Block." 

September 20. 'T have just come down from the evening 
service (the Congregational church worship for the present 
in the Hall above our office), to write. This morning the 
new Methodist church was dedicated. The sermon, collec- 
tion, and subscriptions kept us cooped up in the choir seats 
by the pulpit until long after dinner time 

"Of especial town news I don't know of anything talked 
of, thought of, or dreamed of except the hard times and poli- 
tics. We vote on our State constitution and officers under 
it in three weeks. Woodman's Hall in our block is the best 
in either town, so we have plenty of talk and applause of 
all kinds, hands and yells and too often all combined ; but we 
feel so deeply in the cause that we catch the fervor and 
''pitch in" (western), with the others. Your humble ser- 
vant has frequent opportunities to speak to his ''dear fellow 
citizens," etc 

Page Fifteen 



"I have a host of things to tell you of our pigeon hunt- 
ing ; killed two hundred. Great sport and a great amount of 
fun in it. S. C, you know, is nearsighted so he was obliged 
to keep his eyeglasses on to see them. Well, in the excite- 
ment of pursuit, he lost his glasses in a bog hole and couldn't 
find them so on he went without. Alas, for human eyesight 
and foresight ! Everything he saw flying for the remainder 
of the day was a pigeon to him and he fired at it. Such a 
collection of American birds as he had would have delighted 
Audubon and thrown Agassiz into ecstasies. You know 
what an earnest manner he has and you can imagine him 
blazing away at sparrows, blackbirds, etc., — and we accused 
him of firing at a large swarm of mosquitoes but he stoutly 
denies it. We try a day with prairie chicken soon, large as 
hens and we find them in large flocks — fine shooting and 
finer eating," 

Arrangements were finally concluded for a journey east. 

November 2. **I shall not have any special regrets 
when fairly afloat on the Mississippi River, down, down, 
four hundred miles and then, with a dash and a whirl, away 
we go on to the shores of the Atlantic." 

November 9. Steamer Northern Bell. "Premonitory 
symptoms of a Minnesota winter, and 'tis a pleasant thought 
that I am keeping the birds company. Large flocks are pass- 
ing us hourly down to the lower Mississippi and rice marshes 
of Arkansas, and the snow-white gulls are skimming along 
up, following the snows in the grand northern march ; for 
you must know that we do not have snow in November or- 
dinarily ; not till some days later than Chicago." 

November 10. 10 o'clock A. M. Lake Pepin. ''J^st 
at daybreak we passed Maiden's Rock. You remember the 
legend, don't you? 'Tis a perpendicular cliff some four 
hundred feet high, rising abruptly from the lake. 'Twas 

Pai^c Sixteen 



crowned with a crust of snow and the flash of daybreak gave 
it a mellow tinge that seemed like the smile of the great 
spirit hallowing the spot so sacred to the Dakotas." 

Eleven o'clock Wednesday evening. "A gay time on 
board since tea. A company of negro minstrels — genuine 
blacks — none of your base New England imitations — fine 
music — four pieces — good singers, most of their tunes being 
new and of the pure exclusive negro school. I laughed and 
so did everybody. Then the dancing began in the middle of 
the cabin ; about one hundred passengers. Hope to reach 
Dunleith early Thursday morn and Millbury by Saturday." 

Arrived in Millbury November 4, 1857, having left his 
Massachusetts home August, 1856. The winter was filled 
visiting kindred and friends, attending concerts and lec- 
tures, running down to New York to attend a reunion of 
Union College classmates, while more or less business inter- 
ests occupied these months. 

November 21. "S. C. is acquainted with your precep- 
tress, who attended the Brattleboro school when he did. He 
was invited over to West Haven when in Yale, so we can 
imagine your surroundings." 

December 10. "Then you are reading Goldsmith, who 

'Wrote like an angel 

And talked like poor Poll.' 
Speaking of Goldsmith, when I first read The Vicar of 
Wakefield several years ago, as you say, I was disappointed 
and surprised too, disappointed in my expectations formed 
entirely, of course, from the frequent reference and flatter- 
ing opinions of later and greater writers. I was surprised 
at my own dullness, or incorrect reading of the book. Lately, 
reading his life and works and a review of them, I find my 
disappointment was from my false expectations. That the 
book was not great from a startling plot and thrilling devel- 

Page Seventeen 



opment, or from its fine writing of the setting sun, the 
western hills, tree-tops, sands of life, solitary horsemen, 
manly brow, foaming steed, gushing springs, mountain-side, 
shades of night, lost maiden, eyes to heaven, lovely vision, 
veni, vidi, married-school of writers, but from its simple, 
direct, unaffected style told with all the quiet simplicity and 
sincerity of a humble vicar; and it is more remarkable for 
such a book to have been written at the time he wrote and 

by such a man Do you read his plays? Read 

them, and tell me what you think of them." 

February 2, 1858. "Allow me to mildly differ from 
your roommate in her idea of the intensity of the words 
"obliged" and ''thanks." One may be obliged, — and we all 
often feel obligated to persons towards whom we do not ex- 
ercise any gratitude. To feel truly thankful we must also 
feel our obligations for favors received; but we may feel 
those obligations and go no further ; not reaching and induc- 
ing that higher emotion of thankfulness. What do you say? 

"Amos and I went in to Worcester and heard Rufus 
Choate read his lecture on Burr and Hamilton. It was 
Choatey in the extreme. I will tell you later of its peculiar 
power. Last week went in to Worcester and heard James 
Russell Lowell lecture 

"Adam went out of Eden, Moses out of Egypt, Eneas 
fled from burning Troy, the Pilgrims from Del f haven, and 
Mary Brown has gone to Baltimore; — alike memorable 
epochs in the world's history. You can well imagine but 
poorly tell the sensation it has made in the community. Susie 
T. has gone to Boston with her tossing head and dimes. 

I have been invited to speak on the resources and 

attractions of Minnesota, — I may before I leave." 

March 11, 1858. "Mild spring weather and the blue- 
birds have been with us several days. This warm sunshine 

Page Eighteen 



and these birds and bare fields remind me of my western 
home by the Father of Waters. I must be ofif; spring 
opens the currents of business and all forms of activity 
freshen up with the freshening grass. It tells me that I 
should be on the ground marching to the music of our stir- 
ring industry." 

Returning west, April, 1858 ; 

Hudson River, Steamer Scudder. Twenty-five miles up 
the Hudson ; eight o'clock Saturday evening. It's dark and 
chilly on the aftdeck, and I come in the gentlemen's cabin to 
write you a few hasty lines. The imperfect light and the trem- 
ulous motion of the boat give an aquatic uncertainty to my 
pen. Your brother has probably told you how we spent the 

morning in Hartford I arrived in New York about 

five, asked and found my friend Charlie W. awaiting me. We 
had a cordial greeting. He drove me to his boarding house. 
We passed the hour before tea in talking of classmates, our 
western experience and our plans and business. After tea 
we visited the Niblos; the Ravils in pantomine; — not par- 
ticularly interesting, and we left early. Called at Taylor's 
on our way back. Charlie thought I was getting sleepy, 
wonderfully early for me. I told him I did not have my 
usual rest the night before, so we went up and I was sound 
asleep by eleven. This morning we went over to Brooklin 
and heard Henry W^ard Beecher. We were early but the 
church was filled and many were standing. By dint of push- 
ing and coaxing the usher and the use of Charlie's umbrella 
we at last secured comfortable seats in the gallery. They 
kept pouring in till every square inch of the church, aisles, 
and pulpit was crowded. At least 2,500 or 3,000, I should 
think. The opening exercises were ordinary except the 
grand congregational singing, — the vast assembly rising and 
swelling out the good old church tunes, nearly drowning the 

Porge Nineteen 



organ, and filling the entire room with the deep, firm chorus 
of 2,000 voices. While the collection was being taken, Mr. 
Beecher read the names of 192 persons to be admitted to the 
church next Sabbath ; some by letter, among themH.B. Stowe, 
his sister, and the rest by public profession. Eleven of them 
were to be immersed, several to be admitted by letter were 
from Baptist churches. Mr. Beecher said he was a Baptist 
in everything but close communion. It took a long time to 
read the names and when about half through he said to the 
audience, 'Be patient. Bless the Lord that it takes so long.' 
His sermon was not written and was not remarkable, — from 
some peculiar personal views on the divine character of 
Christ, and on grieving away the Holy Spirit and being be- 
yond the reach of salvation, — I can believe, — I do believe. 
As he spoke I wished I could hear him more. I don't know 
but other ministers believe as he does, but they certainly do 
not explain their belief as he does. It was just what I was 
talking to you of the other night, I could not help feeling 
were true, but I never heard a minister nor anyone agree 
with me before. His remarks and the occasion I shall not 
soon forget. The vast assembly, the rapt attention, those 
192 names at one addition — a small army, as he said, — the 
grand chorus singing, the whole filled me completely. I 
saw the old white-haired father, Dr. Lyman Beecher, in the 

audience 

"We are passing the Highlands. I have been out a half- 
hour on deck and we have been gliding up by St. Anthony's 
Nose, Donderberg Mountain, and now, as I come up, we are 

just against Sugar Loaf We are passing West 

Point. All come up." 

Three days later. '*We reached the Suspension 
Bridge at 2 :00 P. M. and as the train through the Canadas 
did not start before 12 :00 that night we improved the hours 

Page Tzi'enty 



and delay and daylight in seeing the sights. The gigantic 
grace of that marvelous bridge and the terrific grandeur 
of that most sublime cataract on earth, — 'tis simply foolish 
for me to say more of it. In the dusk of the evening F. 
and I walked slowly over to Lundy's Lane battleground. 
A village has sprung up where the artillery came up and 
opened its puny thunder within sound of that mighty boom- 
ing of waters, and a church and school house occupy the 
place where the gallant Scott made his brilliant charge of 
infantry and won his first laurels. We needed daylight and 
a guide to form a correct idea of the plan of the battle. I 
do not know as you care to have me speak of these things, 
but I have a habit of writing of afifairs as they meet me or I 
them. At 12:00 midnight we were ofif on the great western 
railroad on through the Canadas. A long, crowded train 
and as glorious a moon to make a man homesick as ever 
shone. Our trip thenceforward has been rather eventless, 
through all kinds of country, all kinds of people, their day- 
light and moonlight, we have been steaming, plunging, scut- 
tling on our western course. But it is a strange thing to 
ride all night by a bright moon, to be wakened suddenly in 
the later hours of the night, starting up in your seat and 
wondering for a moment where you are. 

**Such a queer spectacle the inside view presents ! An 
old stager snoring like a donkey with the influenza, — the 
strange contortions and distortions for rest : a plain middle- 
aged woman with an old-looking babe in her lap; — the 
woman has dropped off one side, her bonnet badly smashed, 
her mouth widely open, while her babe hangs across her 
lap like a raw doughnut on a fork. A big fat woman and a 
slight, frail, rickety-looking man (wife and husband, prob- 
ably), occupy a seat in front of me; — man sits next the 
window, tired and sleepy, dangling up and tipping over in 

Page Twenty-one 



all directions, and now and then makes a plunge plump into 
his wife's capacious lap; — she, though unconscious to ev- 
everything else, won't have him leaning on her, so she seizes 
him all wilted as he is, and tries to brace him up in the 
corner; the poor man, discouraged and repelled in all other 
directions, subsides vertically and meeting with little oppo- 
sition in that direction, drops and sinks till I lose sight of 
him behind the seat back. Soon the fat woman, now fairly 
under way, begins to vibrate, swinging slowly from side to 
side, and, at last, comes down in a crushing mass on the 
little unresisting heap of her husband in the corner. There 
is a smothered murmur, a half whispered groan, and all is 
quiet ; you shiver a little and wonder what the morning will 
reveal. A stout young fellow dove into his stout friend 
who has thrown his head and arms over him like a huge 
frog caught under a stone. Adventurous young man has 
contrived to seat himself with an inexperienced young lady ; 
both seem to be asleep, — position confiding, — affairs tender 

All so silent and hushed save the whirl and 

dash of the train, the sharp click of the car-wheels, and the 
sudden, abrupt signal whistle to the brakeman. Then the 
outside view ; — the strange, weird, efifects of the flitting, 
chasing, shadows. The moon is strangely bright, and such a 
singular silence seems to brood over our way, as we whirl 
on through field and wood and waste; the odd freaks and 
the shadows of the trees, rocks, hills, and the wreathing, 
vomiting smoke and steam all combined make a spectacle 
if seen by St. John, Dante, or Milton would make effective 
material for an epic vision. 

"Yesterday when I was getting off the cars at Freeport 
for refreshment I met face to face W. D. Washburn, an old 
friend and a splendid fellow from Minneapolis. He is a 
younger brother of the Congress Washburn. I was heartily 
glad to see him. He introduced me to Honorable Mr. Cad- 
Fag^ Twenty-two 



wallader Washburn, member of the last Congress, and we 
have had a fine trip of it since. The Congressman, Hke 
Washburn, is a genial, companionable man. I like him. I 
am glad of this opportunity to make his acquaintance. His 
anecdotes and incidents of the exciting scenes of the last 
session, of the men I have read about but seldom heard de- 
scribed, — all of this interests me." 

The next day. "This morning before the boat started 
from Dubuque we walked back of the town, out on the per- 
pendicular rock that overlooks the town ; the river for miles 
up and down, and the city of Dubuque across the river, — 
and while we were sitting on the cliff, the ferry-boat came 
over. It had a large painting on it of an Indian maiden 
handing some lead ore to a full-dressed officer. Mr. W. 
laughed at the crudeness of the painting and inquired what 
it meant. I told him the touching story, tradition though 
it is, of Peasta and General Dubuque, a French officer, who 
first visited what is now the site of the city, named from 
him away back in 1700; saw Peasta, the Sioux maiden, 
loved her, remained with her tribe, discovered the lead 
mines of the vicinity, was killed by an Indian, was carried 
across the river alone by Peasta in her canoe, who set her 
boat adrift, toiled with the dead body of her white lover, 
around and up to the highest point of the bluff. With her 
loving, tender hands and polished knife she made him a 
grave and buried him there ; then, with the keen blade wet 
the grave with her blood and, running to the abrupt cliff on 
which we sat, threw herself to swift death on the rocks 
below. We walked slowly up to the supposed site of his 
grave and found a few, little, wild violets. Mr. C. W. went 
directly to the boat, wrote the story and sent some of the 
flowers to his wife. 

Page Tiventy-thrce 



''While I have been writing this, — by the way, it is 
evening now, — Mr. Washburn came along and sat down by 
nie, and as he has several times before spoken about it, re- 
marked that he presumed I was to bring on a lady with me 
this spring, etc., and finally inquired of me what time of 
year I thought preferable for introducing a lady to Minne- 
sota. I quietly suggested the autumn. So he talked on of 
the pleasant young married people in Minneapolis and finally 

bade me good night and went into his stateroom 

The bell and whistle announce LaCrosse ; 'tis 10 o'clock. 
Our Highlander with his bag-pipe is piping away on the 
fore-deck; more of him tomorrow." 

Saturday morning, 7:30 o'clock. "Lake Pepin and 
bag-piper 

"We were up early this morning to see Lake Pepin. 
W. D. Washburn, his brother and myself have been up to 
the hurricane deck most of the time. 'Tis cloudy and cold 
and all are wishing it was only warmer, and we had a genial 
sunshine to enjoy the glorious views as we pass up the Lake. 
The tradition of Maiden's Rock I leave for another time." 

Sunday morning: "Ten o'clock. Just left Red Wing 
and shook Mr. C. Washburn by the hand. He stops here 
today and comes up to Minneapolis next week. Last night 
F. and I paced the deck together. The fires were burning 
up among the blufifs as we passed. The swift, gliding boat, 
the dark, deep reach of the water, the moon struggling up 
among the clouds, the distant cry of the loon and the shrill 
tones of the bag-pipe on the lower deck, — all novel and wild 
to us. Our bag-pipe friend is getting- decidedly tedious. 
The Captain found him yesterday morning among the 
Ftrange passengers. A rival boat, the Key City, has a com- 
pany of negro waiters that embrace a very good band, and 
they play as they approach the principal towns so our Cap- 

Page Tzventy-four. 



tain, as a burlesque, has hired this fellow to dress himself 
in his Highland full dress, places him on the forward deck, 
and as we get within hearing distance of a landing he tunes 
up, and there he stands in full view and places his pipers to 
a full scream till we are off; and, really, he looks fine in 
his flashy plaids, streaming colors, and full dress of the 
Highland Scot. But the music is all about the same thing. 
I see no change of time or pitch for 'Bonnie Doone,' 'Ray's 
Wife,' or 'Scots Wee Ha.' We expect to reach St. Paul by 
3 :00 P. M., and Minneapolis by tea-time. 

"P. S. Did not mail this at St. Paul as the stage was at 

the levee Crossed Suspension Bridge about 5 :00 

o'clock and I was busy till bed time shaking friends by the 
hand and answering questions." 

Two places of interest for the small town were the 
Suspension Bridge and the Falls of St. Anthony. A walk 
was often taken to one or the other at the close of day in 
order to enjoy the rare scene; — and in summer Nicollet 
Island was used as a meeting place for large assemblages. 

May, 1858. "Busy weeks followed the return from the 
east; among other things, selecting furniture and moving 
into the new office." 

May 9, 1858. "Last week Mendenhall, the banker, 
was married and we, (I tell you we have some grand sing- 
ing, — S. C, Charles Cushmen, and Jo. Clark), with some 
twenty of his friends were invited to go up and serenade 
him. We sang, 'Hail to the Queen,' 'Mariner Loves o'er the 
Waters,' and 'Stars of the Summer Night,' — all hands invited 
in, — a fine table of refreshments. Mendenhall introduced 
his wife and the affair passd off very pleasantly." 

May 31. "This is the floral coronation month of our 
woods and plains. The crops are promising. The foliage 

Page Tii'eiity-fii'e 



and all forms of vegetation are luxuriant, the prairie is 
covered with w^ild flowers, the river runs rippling down in 
liquid coolness, the days are splendid to live in, the nights 
are glorious to sleep in, and all together we are in a time fit 

for a visit from the gods Card of invitation to 

the opening of the Nicollet. About twenty of us young men 
are planning to board there ; have separate table by our- 
selves, — good comradeship and great fun." 

''Last week quite a party of Sioux Indians passed 
through the town. They had been on a warpath up among 
the Chippewa; had only two scalps and lost six. Several 
are badly wounded and all dejected and morose, feathers 
and war paint in bad condition and, in short, all the indica- 
tion of having been roughly used in the upper country. 

These violets lifted their little blue heads up 

through the clean turf of the primeval prairie within sight 
and sound of the Falls of St. Anthony, — a place I used to 
read of and trace out on the imperfect map of my schoolboy 
period, a place more remote and unknown to my boyish 
understanding than Japan and Siberia, now." 

June 14. 'T did not write you last Monday for we 
were called into the country to sing at a funeral," — (a form 
of service they continued for a number of years). "For 
the first time in several Sabbaths the day has been clear, 
calm, and bright, and like all sunshine has brought out new 
people, new bonnets, and new smiles from the faces under 
them. Before we left the office for church this morning a 
company of some 200 United States troops and a long line of 
baggage wagons filed past on their way from Fort Snelling 
to Fort Ripley, 100 miles up the river; an odd sight for a 
quiet Sabbath morn but they take today because the roads 
are not obstructed by other kinds of travel much. The 
past week has brought several failures in town and a great 

Page Ticeriiy-six' 



number of long faces. Many feel that times will not Improve 
before next spring; others think that September will bring 
us relief. 'Tis useless to disguise that we are in a bad con- 
dition. We have no banks and there is but little money 
coming in, and, indeed, we are living almost without it. 'Tis 
almost impossible to collect a cent, and no one can pay till 
we either have local banks or money from abroad. Though, 
for all this, we can live, and when we do start again I had 
rather be here than any other place on earth. It may 
change our plans. I don't care a fig for the money ; I never 

expect to be rich, — I can live and enjoy myself 

"Oh, what a miserable sermon we had this afternoon ! 
A stranger preached. He ought to be laughed out of the 
pulpit! Don't you hope the greatest enterprise man ever 
undertook will succeed? — the oceanic telegraph. I fear the 
next news." 

June 15. "Had an anti-slavery meeting on Island, S. C. 
spoke. If published, I'll send it to you. I thought it very 
good. I'm going to keep a daily journal and send it to you. 
weekly. 

"The past week eventful in two things. Grand open- 
ing of the Nicollet, and an Indian fight. (Let me inclose 
a bill of fare of the opening supper. You see we have 
something good to eat if we are 2,000 miles from Connecti- 
cut. (Mr. Gale was toastmaster.) 

"To return to the Indian fight. 

"The newspapers will make a great battle. Terrible 
slaughter, county in arms, troops called out, and all that 
kind of sensational humbug. I wrote you of a small war- 
party passing through here in my last. They were Sioux. 
They had been up and killed three or four Chippewas, and 
last week Thursday the Chippewas came down 150 strong 
and retaliated. The fight was at Shakopee, about 20 miles 

Page Twenty-seven 



from here on the Minnesota River. I have seen and con- 
versed with several who were on the ground They give 
very amusing accounts of the engagement, and, — I send you 
the newspaper report. They have a skillful way of making 
the most of an affair that not half the people in town know 
of till they see it in the paper and those who knew of it did 
not care for it. I saw the wounded spoken of, on the boat. 
Now this will seem to you, read by the light of New England 
candles, and read with New England eyes, to be quite dread- 
ful, but 'tis no more here than a good, big fire or an average 

railroad accident with you Then you have been 

thinking? Let me say with Sancho Panza, 'Blessings on 
the man that invented thought.' I, too, have been thinking: 
— how will you like it here?" 

The great financial depression of the eastern States 
finally reached the west in full force. 

June 19. "Business is not as brisk as last year at this 
time. Money is scarce and retrenchment is the order of 
things. But we manage to maintain our equilibrium and 
equanimity, and the freshening up of spring, and the com- 
ing of passage birds and flowers, and the May sunshine, en- 
larges a man's heart and sympathies I have a 

curiosity to know what G. writes of this country. He does 
not tell me and I shall not ask him. Does he take the snake- 
and-toad-view, or the glorious-west, dashing-waters-and- 
wild-flowers view? Tell me. He is easily depressed and 
disheartened and that will never do for a young man 'out 
west.' Heaven only knows where I should have been if I 
had not inherited some of my good mother's extraordinary 
hope ! S. C. sits across the table — sends his regards. He 
is a good brother to me." 

June 23. "We have had a splendid day for flies and 
bumblebees, but too much perspiration for pleasure of mor- 

Page Twoity-ciglit 



tals ; and yet, for all the searching sun and oppressive heat, 
I have been to four services. This morning to the Baptist, 
where Amory read his resignation to take effect next Sab- 
bath, when he will enter upon his new appointment." (Mr. 
Amory Gale became State Missionary of the Baptist denomi- 
nation, which office he held for sixteen years. He then was 
able to fulfill his dream of mature life, — a journey to the 
land of the divine Master he served so well. Stricken near 
Joppa, he was laid to rest in the little cemetery of that ancient 
city of the East.) "This mom heard Mr. McCloud of the 
Cong. At six this evening several of us went over to Nicol- 
let Island. An ex-F. W. Baptist named Ames, a man of 
excellent heart, great purity of life and honesty of purpose, 
rather liberal in his religion, preached. This is the second 
time. A beautiful spot on the east side of the Island and 
sloping down to the water's edge. A fresh, green turf and 
scattering oaks; nearly fifteen hundred people present, or- 
derly and attentive. The orthodox clergy refused to read 
notice of the meeting for which I blame them. Seats only 
for ladies. I should think there were 300 of them on the 
seats, besides many sitting in carriages around. I enclose 
somewhat mutilated copy of two hymns that were distributed 
through the crowd and sung with good effect; that last 
one, — isn't it fine ? And sung at such a time, in such a place, 
the rich, mellow light of our sunset glowing through the 
trees, the up-turned faces of those hundreds of men and 
women, the freshness of the vegetation and foliage, the 
hushed quiet of the winds and water sweeping along the 
shore and only the murmur of the falls below us heard 
between the verses. I shall go over again. I do not know 
that he is all right, but I do feel that much he says is true." 

June 27. *'The great question now is how we can 
spend the Fourth of July ? What can we do worthy of the 

Page Tivent\-niue 



day and expressive of our intense patriotism? Times are 
so hard we can't buy gun-powder, squibbs, or crackers, and 
whoever heard of a suitable celebration without those 
explosives to do the heavy business of snapping and fizzling 
the whole town into a headache? I am heartily glad you 
took and felt so much interest in those games. That suits 
me. It's human and humanizing. It quickens the blood 
and sharpens the sensibilities. Good for the Bristol boys 
and still better for the Bristol girls to encourage them. May 
the boys always go in to win and may all the girls be deserv- 
edly won! We went out and looked at the 

Comet. Came down and looked at the Methodist church 
and a temperance lecturer." 

The hard times continued. Mr. Gale became tempor- 
ary Deputy Clerk of the Court. There were now three lines 
of action opened ; the business office, politics and law ; a 
song might rise from either, though differing in key and 
tone. It was the springtime of music. 

June 30. ''The sun has at length gone down to the great 
relief of the citizens of the town, for it has been unusually 
warm today, — 100 in the shade at noon. The people are 
luxuriating in the refreshing cool of the early eve, sitting 
in doorways, strolling in the street, and drinking soda water. 
We would either walk down on Suspension Bridge that I 
have spoken of so often to you, and that I love so much at 
this hour, or we'd ride down the Prairie so fresh with 

the odors of fiowers and grains We have a 

gorgeous (if it can be), bouquet on our center table. It is 
as large — well, as big as your head and a foot and a half 
high — over forty kinds of flowers. 'Tis from our friend's, 
Dr. Ames, garden." 

July 1. "It is half-past nine and a most glorious Tues- 
day night. The moon is so very bright, and yet, at this 

Page Thirty 



hour a strong glow of daylight Hngers in the west. S. C. 
and I remarked it as we came up just now from the river, 
where we have been to bathe. When I was a lad I had no 
more thought of, and sooner expected to bathe in the 
Euphrates or Ganges, than in this Mississippi River. S. C. 
and I have a nice quiet place where we drop down these 
warm nights after daylight has waned, and be assured it is 
a great luxury. One of the unfortunate restraints of our 
civilization is that we have no public baths or general cus- 
tom for ladies to have as fine use of our rivers and ponds 
as the gentlemen. To be sure, you can go to Newport or 
some other watering place, but what is the formal, 
restrained, dress-up walking-in, to the wild, free plunge, 
the primitive, Adamic, abandoned 'pitching in' of us fel- 
lows. Ah, you don't know what is to go in swimming! 
Yesterday down to the Fort to see a man. Soldiers all 
left. Rode into and around the Fort. Old, rickety build- 
ings, worn-out and used-up wagons, cannons and general 
war outfit for an old frontier fort. This was built in 1820. 
Got back about tea-time and found a boat up with a Till- 
bury (light chaise) on board. (I got it of Mt. P. in Mill- 
bury last winter)— put it together and took it up-street, but 
so many wanted to look at it and buy it I did not get home 
till about ten o'clock. 'Tis a beautiful, tasty thing; nothing 
like it here. So many want to buy it Fm afraid I shall let 
it go. If I do FU have another some day. I have ridden 
nearly fifty miles today. Been out to McCloud's old Indian 
post on the Minnesota river. Took dinner at Gibson's, 
who is known for his hospitality and handsome daughters. 
Had Deputy Sherifif with me ; papers to serve and collections 

to make in that section Excuse this, — I have nm 

it down on the run." 

Page Thirty-one 



July 4. ''Preparations for an anniversary day. A rejoic- 
ing people, a cle^r, sapphire sky, a gentle, cooling motion 
in the air, and all the elements seem to be peacefully satis- 
fied and smile approvingly on the noisy and jubilant exalta- 
tions of men. Thirty-two guns at sunrise, the last a big- 
one for the last and noblest state in promise — Minnesota. 
I feel moderately patriotic, but I do dislike the infernal 
explosions of gun-powder, the head-cracking cannon, the 
ear-piercing gun, and the irritating crack fizzle, whang of 
the fire-crackers. There they go ! A whole hatfull of 
them right under my window, and I see they have planted 
a frightful little brass cannon right across the street, and 
for all day practice I fear. Shades of Waterloo and Bunker 
Hill ! Protect me from these belligerent demonstrations, 
from congestion of the brain and all other ills of the battle 
field! Great preparations are being made on Nicollet 
Island. Tables for five thousand, dozen of oxen, tons of 
cakes and pies, folios of July 4th speeches, American Eagle 
served up in thirty-two dififerent styles, — hot, cold, living, 
dead, with feathers, and without, flying and sitting on a 
tree, the spread-eagle and the calm, domestic bird. Some 
dust and a great amount of perspiration. All this I see in 
the near distance. The forces are arranging their men and 
women. The engagement will commence about 12:00 M. 
I am calm as yet and write you with great composure for a 
man just on the eve of he-don't-know-what. From our new 
office window I look down on the gathering masses in the 
street; — three pigs, one cow, an Irish wash-woman with a 
large bundle of clothes under her arm and a pail of water 
on her head, five malicious boys, and the spiteful, snapping 
little cannon above named, a man leading a lame horse, 
and a big dog barking at the corner of Hennepin and Second 
Street. Three cheers for North America, — and you and I ! 

Page Thirty-two 



One cheer for S. C, who has just got up! And another 
loud one and a tiger for my wash-woman, who has come in 
at the last moment with my clean clothes ! Washer-woman, 
all hail to thee, as thou advanceth with thy regal step, the 
light of Erin in thine eye, and my clean shirt in thine hand ! 
I hear steps on the stairway: How, now? Who comes? 
'Gale up there?* 'Yes.' 'Come forth !' I come — to break- 
fast first, and then, — and then — Ah, who can tell the chances 
in store; the riot, the roar of this day's work? With white 
pants, white vest, grey coat, and white planters hat, I grasp 
the duties of the day and venture forth." 

July 5th. "The Glorious Fourth is over. All I can say 
of it with these meager means of expression, is, that at 
least nine thousand people, half women, gathered on the 
Island. They came from the towns and the country. All 
sorts of teams and all sorts of dress, from every nation, too, 
— Irish, Dutch, Swedes, Norwegians, and so on to Liberia. 
Music, guns, sports, and routes. The free dinner was about 
half enough for the women. 'Twas the largest assembly 
of the masses that has ever occurred in Minnesota. After 
the exercises there on Nicollet, quite a party of Minneapoli- 
tans took a ride around by the lakes and falls. S. C. and I 
did not hardly know who and did not care to invite anybody." 

July 23. "Lately I have taken to a quill. I find I can 
write faster and time is a great object at present ; for some 
foolish fellow has told us that 'time is money' and, as we 
haven't any of the latter, we are saving what we can of the 
former 

"You think there is grandeur about a thunder storm? 
Good for you ! You will have entertainment enough in 
this thunder land. We have the biggest pumpkins, the 
tallest corn, and the loudest thunder of any state in the 
L^nion. Last Sabbath morn we had a terrific thunderstorm. 

Page Thirty-three 



M. (quite deaf) told me she had never heard it thunder 
before. But honestly, I'm glad you don't feel it your duty to 
be frightened at every flash of lightning. A summer 
thunder-shower I do think the most glorious spectacle in 
the natural world. The description you speak of in 'Child 
Harold' is the best in the English language, as indeed, what- 
ever Byron attempted he executed better than most other 
men, except it was to live a decent life. While he wrote 
like something above human, he lived so far beneath ! What 
a dreadful tale of newspaper madness you had been read- 
ing last Saturday. Don't indulge in such strong reading. 
Do you actually believe any healthy, well-tempered woman 
ever went mad from disappointment? I doubt it. I have 
seen men that were wrecked, but I have never seen a 
woman. You read the newspapers? The Springfield 
Republican and New York Tribune, don't you? I don't 
think most ladies read the newspapers enough. I don't 
mean the story ones, but the first class papers as above. If 
you see the semi-weekly Tribune of July 13, read a letter 
from Boston signed Byles, and the editorial, *Keit, on Cal- 
houn,' and tell me what you think of them ; also Rufus 
Choat's great oration on the 'Fourth of July' in Boston. 
A. G. is reading a Tribune at my left. He will remain a 
week longer. They are all of them extremely pleased with 
the town and the city and show their good sense and taste 
in the expression of such an opinion." 

August 7. **Day before yesterday when the news reach- 
ed here by the 11 :00 o'clock stage of the Queen's message 
having been received, the Daily News issued a slip announc- 
ing the fact, and suggesting that all the bells ring a peal at 
3 :00 o'clock. So, at 3 :00 every bell in town, church school, 
and shop rang out in chorus for the great news. We sat 
on the courthouse steps, listening to the ringing of the bells 

Page Thirty- four 



and then returned to a divorce case which came in the office 
yesterday. They have a demonstration at St. Paul and we 
are invited down. I don't know who will go. I wish I 
was nearer the seashore. I long to make an offering to the 
ocean. The whole American nation should come down to 
the Atlantic beach, and, at a concerted electric signal, all 
men, women and children and old age should fall on their 
knees, and, raising their eyes to heaven, reaching their hands 
towards the sea, shout in a united voice,— that sanctified 
fitting praise of. Glory to God in the highest, on earth Peace 
and Good Will to men. But don't you think the messages 
are rather tame— especially the Queen's? It has a kind of 
insipid taste to it. They ought to have said something as 

memorable as the occasion Tonight our quartet 

meets." 

August 10, 9 o'clock P. M. "S. C. came down to 
brother A.'s after tea and for the past hour we have enjoyed 
a good, quiet talk sitting on the little piazza. We opened 
on the success of laying the Atlantic cable and this led to 
remarks on what has been invented, discovered, and first 
performed during the last half century; and now that this 
almost more than mortal work has been accomplished what 
may we not expect to see even during the reasonable num- 
ber of years that we hope to live. When the news first came 
here last Saturday some dozen men were in the clerk's office 
and, after the first shout of applause, I called for cheers for 
C. W. Field, the leading spirit of the enterprise, and the 
noble State that gave him birth. They were given with a 
hearty will. Someone inquired what state it was? I re- 
plied, The State that offered the first sacrifice of her sons 
in the Revolution now leads by her enterprise and devotion 
to this constant and powerful Union.' Quite glowing and 
patriotic, wasn't I ? How lucky I was from Massachusetts ! 

Page Thirty-file 



Send up a shout from the hills of Cape Cod to the sands 
of Berkshire !" 

August 15. Sunday. ''Hot, hot, melting! I started 
for church, down to the door. Sun struck me and I fell 
back upstairs here. Tried to read — couldn't, wanted to 
sleep, but wouldn't. Bethought me of my journal which I 
started with such flourish a month ago. What I intended 
to write, — weak, but let it go; I am too lazy and listless to 
change it. What weakly mortals we are! I am peculiarly 
so. How can you keep a daily journal? I couldn't my 
weekly one ; to you is my nearest approach to it. I hardly 
know how I came to that, do you ? I think it was a gradual 
shortening up of the time. But now what? Didn't start a 
word Friday or Saturday. At District Court and Clerk's 
office every and all day since, where I shall be a part or all 
of this week. The clerk is good looking, a good fellow, as 
good a friend as I have in M., and thereby hangs a tale. 
When I first knew him I judged by conversation that he was 
engaged east. Last spring, a year ago, he suddenly went 
east and came back alone ; has grown old fast since. One 
side of his beard is grey, and I have thought from several 
indications that There was something rotten in Denmark.' 
Yesterday, while we sat entering up judgments and issuing 
attachments I hummed a few strains of 'Blanch Alpin.' 
He stopped and said, 'Sing that again, won't you? Sing 
it all.' I could only remember one verse. He said, 'I heard 
that sung sweetly a year ago.' I remarked that I did by 
a friend in the east. He replied, 'I had a friend east when 
I came out,' and he was going on when we were interrupted 
by persons coming in on business. He has promised me the 
story and I am assured it is a tragic one. You shall have 
it when I get it. 

Page Thirty-six 



"Friday evening S. C. and I called on friends, and last 
night we walked down to our favorite dreaming place on 
the Suspension Bridge " 

Thursday, 9:00 o'clock P. M. '^Yesterday warm and 
I was stupid. Read the newspapers and wrote several 
letters of business. I also read the Sth chapter of Romans ; 
all good, but from the 24th verse, Tor we are saved,' 
etc., to the 29th inclusive, I think is admirable, but the 29th and 
30th neither you nor I nor anyone else in this world knows 
what Paul means ; the three closing verses are beautiful 
and impressive. I am glad indeed if you are getting some 
correct and impartial information touching this 'Land of 
the Dakotas.' Who was the missionary? I may know 
him. Attended to the wants of a couple of destitute lum- 
bermen that were bound to see someone or fight. Day ended 
with a tremendous thunder-shower. We are having rain 
enough to deluge an ordinary sized world ; hardly a day 
for two weeks without more or less. Tonight I am weary. 
I have been assisting the Clerk of the District Court all day, 
and a busy one we Jiave had. He is a capital fellow, H. A. 
Partridge, a Vermonter, and one of the first acquaintances 
I made here. I shall be with him at the courthouse all day 
tomorrow 

"I am reading Butler's 'Hudibras.' You know some- 
thing of it, don't you? Often quoted, but not so often 
used for general reading; so keen and subtle in its wit, so 
stinging in its sarcasm, and at times outrageously indecent. 
Don't ever inquire for it, but if you should see it on anyone's 
table or in anyone's library look at it; 'twon't harm you. 
So you are reading Cowper! Gentle, tea-drinking Cowper, 
quite unlike Butler; not a better man, I think, but he cer- 
tainly wrote to a better purpose. How singular that some 
men have lived and written and left themselves and all their 

Paiie Thirtx-scvcn 



strong individuality and their life thoughts in their writ- 
ings, while others have written like angels and lived either 
like dogs or devils. Of the latter, Goldsmith was one, but 
Poe, the most remarkable in that he left us verse chaste 
and beautiful, while he lived almost below the pity of his 
early friends. Candle out! Good night." 

August 19. 'The Clerk of the Court goes on a visit 
to Wisconsin for a week or more and will leave me alone. 
We send tomorrow for a deputy commissioner for me from 
the judge of this district to act as clerk during his absence. 
Last eve called up at M's. Had a long talk. I spoke of 
a divorce case that came to the office yesterday, and of the 
ease and frequence of divorces. M. was quite interested 
much to her husband's amusement and mine. M. thought 
I ought to tell you about it, so I will. I give you the words 
of the statute so you will not be like necessity, for 'necessity 
knows no law.' You will know part of one. I haven't 
the statute by me, but after specifing the graver causes for 
divorce it gradually softens down to — 'A quarrelsome dis- 
position, incompatibility of temper, or any other good and 
sufficient cause or reason.' Rather dangerous, isn't it, liv- 
ing in such a state? But honestly, I think it restrains ill- 
tempered people and makes families and households better 
natured ; but you won't think so, I know. I am not very firm. 
It is an exceedingly difficult relation to regulate by law so 
that parties really injured can find redress, and not have the 
dishonest, designing abuse of the letter of the law." 

August 30. Monday. "The earth never smiled with 
a fairer mein than this. The boy has just sprinkled, swept, 
and dusted the office with unusual neatness. The doctor 
handed me a fresh bouquet for our long table as I came past 
his garden. I have opened the windows wide for the fresh 

Page Thirty- eight 



morning air as it comes up from the prairie fragrant with 
the odors of the growing corn and August flowers, and 
freshened by the heavy dews. I feel well. I feel grateful 
for all these surroundings, and full of gratitude that I have 
so much, so many enjoyments 

"Saturday was a great day in town. In the morning 
a young fellow, — an attache of the Minneapolis Gazette, 
horsewhipped a trader. Both were from Pennsylvania, 
both generally disliked, snobbish, selfish, conceited fellows, 
and both great cowards. F. went into G.'s store, struck 
one blow and ran across the street when he saw one of G.'s 
clerks coming towards him. And there they stood; F. in 
the door of the printing office, and G. in his store door across 
the way, making wry faces and gesticulating at each other, 
like a pair of quarrelsome hens. There is great laughter 
over town at the accounts of eye witnesses. Some woman 
grief at the bottom of it, so the evening News says." 

"Just after dinner, as S. C. tells me, he heard a great 
commotion down-street; went out and found that a man 
named A. went to take possession of a lot of lumber, when 
another man named B. came on and threatened him and 
warned him ofif. A. did not go, but kept on about his busi- 
ness. He was marking his lumber shed with a small pail 
of black paint. B. grew desperate, threw sticks and stones. 

A. dodged them and kept quietly working. B., down-right 
mad, made a rush with a slab at A., who dexterously evaded 
the slab and threw his pail of black paint plumb into B.'s 
face and breast, and mounted the pile of shingles. 
Tableau : A. on the lumber pile with empty paint bucket, 

B. sputtering, spitting, winking and blowing in the black- 
ness and darkness below, scratching and scraping at the 
paint that lay thick and tenacious over his face, in his eyes 
and ears, and gathered in sticky pools in his bosom, to run 
down his exasperated legs. A., meanwhile, sitting down 

Pa'jc Thirt\-uinc 



cool on his secure elevation, while B. went groping around 
the pile calling him. Quite a crowd collected and someone 
pointed out the retreat of old man A. Then there was a 
scramble. Away went A., down towards the river, and 
away went B. with his ebony front. Then was enacted the 
tragedy of 'Johnny Sands,' A. ran as if he was going on 
the Suspension Bridge. As B. came up gradually on him, 
just in the nick of time, he turned, bent over, and threw B. 
plumb over him into the river, down the bank some twelve 
feet. Bawling, splashing, and floundering, away he went 
down the river, but caught on a raft a little below the bridge 
and crawled out a cleaner and better man. 

"And to close the day, we had an elopement. Annie B., 
a very pretty miss of seventeen, just back from an eastern 
boarding school, against the wishes of her parents married 
T. H., a man of moderate ability, lazy, supported by his 
friends who are wealthy, and who has been drunk at least 
half the time for the last three years. He has made some 
excellent promises, and she will be very happy for a few 
months, and I hope for years, but those who know him best, 
pity Annie. And I can certainly sympathize with her par- 
ents, fine, elderly people, who are almost crazy. So much 
for Saturday. 

Tuesday, P. M. 'Tor a wonder no one in, either on 
business or hangers-on who come in to talk and loll in our 
easy chairs and pleasant room just when I don't want them. 
. . . . Partridge gone to St. Paul. Here I have been 
interrupted again for two mortal hours, first by a drone, 
then by a St. Paul lawyer who didn't know how to 
tax a bill of costs which you may understand to indicate 
great stupidity and unpardonable ignorance 

'T have an engagement for the evening hours; invited 
out to sing and eat muskmelons. Ah, delectable me ! Don't 

Page Forty 



you like them? Splendid; and such melons as we grow 
in this country ! I finish this before I go to tea — rather a 
long parenthesis, but you can take time and find the con- 
nection if you can't discover the sense. I write very fast 
and seldom read my letters over. Such a splendid bouquet 
as the doctor brought in this morning!" 

October 15. "It has been an odd day ; very dark, clouds 
running strangely low ; as warm as June ; hot wind and a 
tumultuous, weird looking sky, and this P. M. since 3 o'clock, 
a violent thunder shower, — odd for the middle of October ! 
Came up from the Bushnell House to brother A.'s, and as 
it rained so hard did not go up to the office, but spent the 
evening pleasantly here, talking, singing, etc. 

"The days since my last have been eventless with 
me save the visit of the Milwaukee guards from that city 
to this place. A splendid looking company and an excellent 
band of music, and as their martial strains come up from 
the bridge and echoed along the streets and their muskets 
flashed in the last rays of yesterday's sun we all stepped 
quicker and felt better for the sights and sounds of the clos- 
ing week. The whole Republican ticket is elected in the 
coimty and we have a large gain in the legislature. Tell 
your father." 

October 19. "S. C. and I joined the Good Templars 
and we hope to take in with us two young men who need 
some restraint. They never drank before last winter, but 
their bad luck in business and want of success drove them 
to it. A foolish reason ! Excellent men, but for that. . . . 

"The flowers in doctor's garden have gone out. People 
are preparing for snow and ice Good night." 

October 21. Wednesday morning. "Bright and glori- 
ous. Our gorgeous Indian summer has come with its ex- 
hilarating atmosphere, clear sky, and .... I can't make 

Page Forty-o)ic 



my eastern crusade this autumn No, not months 

for letters to pass the winter barrier. Last winter it only 
took ten days, and it can't require a longer time this year, 
I'm sure." 

October 24. "We have been flooded every other night 
for the past ten with political speaking — meetings and 
caucuses, and we shall do little but think and act politics for 
the present. May heaven aid us at the ballot box to estab- 
lish correct laws and elect the right kind of men to admin- 
ister them. Last Wednesday evening the Congregational 
sociables were reorganized for the season. Very pleasant 
interview ; about fifty present. The other societies will open 
soon and we shall have some kind of sociable nearly every 
night in the week. Nothing new in town last week save a 
marriage or tv^o, but no death. Indeed, it is a singular 
fact that, though a town of 3,000 population, we have no 
cemetery — no place to bury the dead. I have seen but two 
or three graves (in private grounds) since I came here. 
This fact and another one often remarked upon, that no 
M. D. can be supported exclusively by his practice, tells 
the whole story of our growth and healthy climate." 

October 27. ''As I came slowly up the gentle rise 
towards the Courthouse I looked westward where the full 
moon was struggling up through the gathering clouds. 

There was one thing you could not see. W^ay off 

westward towards the Big Woods there was a bright glare 
of fire reflected on the sky, reaching half-way to the zenith. 
The woods are on fire in the western part of the county 
fifteen or twenty miles away. Then down the river seven 
or eight miles the prairie was on fire; a spectacle unsur- 
passed when you are fortunate enough to be near and see 
the leaping flames. There is a small strip of woods that 
hides the full flames, but the long, rolling, streaming, illumi- 

Pagc fortv-two 



nated folds of smoke, and the flashing golden glow of the 
clouds tell me that the old Fort Reservation is on fire. The 
Reservation is the only unbroken prairie within many miles. 
Most of it is fenced and cut up into farms but the flames 
can run riot over eight thousand acres. What happened 
last week ? Some calls, a sing and an ordinary week beside 
till Saturday night, — odd enough, — when Dr. Ames (you 
know him, — lives near here and has the flower garden), 
gave a large party. Nearly 300 people were present, and 
as pleasant an occasion as you can imagine at so large a 
party. He has a house as large as Colonel Walters' nearly, 
but 'twas full, and with the balloon skirt and the late bustle 
extension you may be assured that it required skillful navi- 
gation to avoid breakers and shoals. No entertainment but 
singing and conversation; a wise arrangement for such a 
crowd, but the moment we attempted to sing they would 
crowd into a room so thick that we would stifle in ten min- 
utes, and bolt for another part of the house." 

October 29. "Do you wish to know more of that party ? 
If I was a lady I might entertain you by telling of the dress, 
looks, style, etc., of the company, but I should talk about as 
intelligently of a lady's dress and fixings as a Hottentot 
would of fine art. The company was mixed; embracing 
all goods of quality and pretenstions. Some few were well 
dressed; many dressed too much, and a few ladies not 
quite enough to answer the requirements of law and civiliza- 
tion. The two Misses H. from York state, visiting only a 
few steps from the Courthouse, sang very well. They were 
dressy, flashy, fine-looking, knew it and improve it. Mr. 
P. and I see them half a dozen times a day. They leave 
soon but they have done a crushing business among hearts 
here. Some half a dozen fellows up-town are ready to die, 
fight or run for them. P. and I have been able to keep quite 

Page Fortv-thrce 



cool (with a little effort) ; considering our nearness it is 
almost wonderful that we have escaped unscathed when so 
many have fallen at a greater distance." 

^'Tuesday was our day for electing our County officers 
and legislature. I inclose Republican ticket for this County. 
We think the Register of Deeds is elected. I tell you we 
have some splendid Republican men in this town and county. 
'Tis some pleasure to meet and work with them. W. D. 
Washburn, in the ticket, is a younger brother of the Con- 
gressional Washburn. You remember my speaking of him 
when I came up the river last spring? 

*'We are to have a musical convention here next week 
which I will write of in my next." 

November 18. "While I board so near the Courthouse 
I come directly back after dinner and have a half hour to see 
people, and chat with them from all parts of the County. 
I enjoy this little chance of getting acquainted with my 
fellow-citizens. I have — Here the Judge came in; court 
convened, I impanelled a jury, engaged Will Cornell to act 
in my stead, and I have been up to the Hall all the after- 
noon, rehearsing for tomorrow evening. Tis 7 :00 o'clock, 
now. Court still in session. The case that has been on all 
day is State of Minnesota versus W. T. Hawkins. Hawkins 
is deputy sheriff of the County. A New Hampshire boy, 
capable but not honest. The Grand Jury found an indict- 
ment against him for taking illegal fees. He is a Republican 
but no one has any sympathy for him for he is unprin- 
cipled. This is the fourth week of the session and the 
Judge is bound to get through this week, if possible, so 
there has been a continuous session since 1 o'clock P. M. 
D. A. Seccombe, Attorney for Defendant, has just con- 
cluded his address to the Jury and Jos. R. Lawrence, the 
state attorney, is warming up in his closing plea. Seccombe 

Page Forty-four 



is a bitter, personal enemy of Lawrence and it gives spice 
to the transaction. 

Wednesday morning " 'Tis cloudy but we 

all hope it won't rain tonight. We are ready and want a 
fair night, both for our personal selves and for the church 
that is to be materially benefited. The Jury in that Hawkins' 
case I spoke of yesterday, retired this forenoon at 10 
o'clock. Haven't agreed and I think won't, and so the fellow 
will get off as he always has. Seccombe has just come and 
sat down beside me and whispered his belief that the Jury 
can't and won't agree and that his client will get off, as 
he expressed it, 'Badly singed and scorched but not posi- 
tively burnt.' We have had one trial for murder — occupied 
four days — verdict, insane, and everyone is convinced he 
was a monomaniac. For nearly a year he had imagined that 
the man that he killed came to his home every night and 
followed him through the country wherever he went, to 
howl and hoot, 'Fire,' play on a discordant fiddle and other 
noises indescribable by him ; that wherever he slept and 
spent the night, these noises followed and disturbed him. 
It seems he went to the man several times and told him of 
this and besought him to desist, and threatened him if he 
didn't. The man, Briggs, laughed about it and sent him 
away. But at last Moore said he could endure it no longer 
and, as he says, after being kept awake all night, and nearly 
crazed by Briggs' infernal noise, he loaded a new pistol he 
had bought and went up to Briggs' house early one morn- 
ing last September, walked into his kitchen as he was sitting 
down to his breakfast, and, telling him he could not stand 
his howling any longer, and that he had come to shoot him, 
fired and shot him through the body. Moore went down 
three miles to the town of Greenwood and delivered himself 
up. Briggs died the next day. Moore wrote to two broth- 
Pa gr Forty- five 



ers of his in Pennsylvania and they came out. They were 
fine appearing men and their bearing and feeUngs com- 
manded much respect. They said they should rather have 
taken him home in a coffin than as they did — a homicidal 
monomaniac. Judge comes in — Jury is all discharged this 
afternoon. Verdict of 'Not Guilty' in Haw^kins' case — he 
ought to have been sentenced. 

"Dusk now. They have brought in the lights. Been up 
to rehearse an hour. Won't rain. May not write tomorrow 
as we have no Court and 'tis Thanksgiving." 

December 5, Monday night. ''Lodge meeting of Good 
Templars. We have now more than 150 members — much 
good thereby. The Hutchinsons sang the same evening. 
Heard last half — delicious harmony. Sweet singers. Tues- 
day, lecture by C. G. Ames. Good as he always is ; graphic, 
pungent, pertinent. We can all remember what he told and 
what he said and that is compliment enough in these days 
of empty talk, smooth rhetoric, and harmonious sentences. 
He reminds one of Beecher, only he has about two-thirds as 
much fire and brain — quite like him, only a smaller pattern." 

Wednesday night. "Snowed all the day long and a 
real, quiet New England snowstorm it was, — a pleasant, old 
schoolboy luxury to be out in it. In the evening Baptist 
sociable at Dr. Keith's. S. C. and I went by invitation, as we 
do to all the others. Left at half-past nine for Colonel Aid- 
rich's to a surprise party ; about one hundred present ; rather 
a bouncing time but we enjoyed it quite well after the crowd 
left. Some twenty of us sat up about the piano and had 
good, stirring, old tunes. Closed with 'Old Acquaintance' 
and left for a merry ride home." 

Thursday. "First day of good sleighing. Cutters 
out and bells so merry. Streets full through the day. Spent 

Page Forty-six 



the evening at home, reading my Tribune. I give part or 
the whole of one evening a week to that ; 'tis my, — well, 'tis 
next to my weekly B. B.'s" 

December 11. Sabbath evening. **Did I tell you the 
Congregationalists are building a church? Rather small 
but tasty. The quartet talk of giving a concert to furnish 
the orchestra and pulpit, the former only large enough for 
an instrument and quartet; quite exclusive, aren't we? 
Parties and sociables are reviving as the evenings lengthen. 
Saturday night I attended a concert of the Baker family, — 
tolerable ; excellent bass, the other not remarkable. You 
see we have had concerting in abundance lately: three in 
the same Hall within two weeks ; neither of them took less 
than $40. We are a musical people here." 

December 18. "This morning we have met for the 
last time in the Hall to worship. Next Sabbath we occupy 
the new church, — not large but very pretty. It has been 
projected and built within the last six weeks. 'Twill not 
be dedicated until the 22nd, and as they call it the Plymouth 
Congregational Church, that day seems best for dedication. 
Mr. McCloud's Thanksgiving sermon is printed. I send 
you one that you may know what kind of ministers we have 
in this remote land. Next Wednesday evening there is a 
meeting called for New Englanders to see about a supper 
like that of last year. You remember the account that was 
in the paper sent ? I hope they will have one ; I shall attend. 
As F. does not care to go, I would like to ask M. to ac- 
company me, but I don't think that F. could breathe without 
aid if I should. Heaven preserve me from such an uncom- 
fortable omnipresence with anyone I may marry. As they 
had the supper last year this side the river 'twill probably 
be at the Winslow house on the other side this year. And 
I hope it will, for they have room for both towns, and 

Pa^c Forty-sez'cn 



you know it is extremely important that one has elbow 
room at an anniversary supper when you have not only your 
own appetite to satisfy but eat commemorative turkey and 

complimentary pies to all of your ancestors 

''You're entirely correct in thinking young theologians 
unfit for ministry out west. I intended by 'young ministers' 
modem preachers, fresh, liberal, warm-hearted, practical 
men of experience and judgment and brains. I wish some 
of the theological sprigs, spiritual sprouts near you would 
come out here. We have so many broken-down pulpit 
nags — old stagers, fellows unfit for the East but will do, as 
they say, for the West. Great mistake as they, poor men, 
find after hunting up and down for months for an opening 
and listening for a call till the force of circumstances forces 
them down to their proper level. We want 5,000 young 
ministers, generous, large-hearted men. Christians, to preach 
Christianity and not theology. Come now, you have an ex- 
cellent field. Beat up for them." 

January 3, 1858. "New Year's several of us made 
calls. Commenced about 1 1 :00 o'clock and by dusk we had 
made twenty calls. Refreshments at every place but one; 
nearly sick the next day; such eating and such general 
jollity, great amount of fun and enjoyment. I inclose a 
card of our quartet I happened to have in my pocket. It is 
soiled but bears the arms of the quartet. We are rehears- 
ing again for another concert to pay ofif the debt we incurred 
on our orchestra. 

"Shall I tell you how the weeks go with us? Take the 
opening week as an illustration — the evenings. Monday, — 
Good Templars, must go. Tuesday, — Lyceum lecture and 
our Reading Club, — attend the last. Wednesday, — The 
F. W. Baptist Festival where I was asked to make a few 
remarks. Thursday I hope to have to myself. Friday, — 

Page Forty-eight 



invited over the river. Saturday, — rehearsal, — and so it 

is I suppose some reflections on the New Year 

and flight of time would be in place here but I'm not in the 
mood. Rev. Mr. Hunt, you spoke of, was up at our church 
dedication ; made a beautiful address and a most favorable 
impression. I should have made his acquaintance, but it 
was the 22nd, I was engaged every moment, and thought I 
should meet him at the supper, but he didn't go over." 

January 18. "The Congregational choir gave their 
second concert. We had an overflowing house and paid up 
all the debt we had incurred to fit up the orchestra. For 
the month past we have not had snow enough for sleighing, 
but last Thursday night it came — a splendid snow of eight 
inches — and every day since has been clear and bright, and 
the sleighs are out merry with bells and bright with speed 
and merry faces. As court meets tomorrow, we have been 
busy preparing during the past week. But I attended the 
Reading Circle Tuesday evening. They read Longfellow's 
'Courtship of Miles Standish.' Do you like it? I dislike 
hexameter but have the highest admiration for Longfellow 
and 'the fighting Captain of Plymouth.' You remember I 

referred to him in my New England supper effort 

S. C, my excellent good brother, sits across the table and 
sends his love to you, and it is not every woman that de- 
serves his love." 

February 2. "Court room— 6:00 o'clock P. M. The 
term is now fairly under way and promises to hold at least 
a month. Mr. P. and I have divided our duties and I am 
enjoying myself well. The Council are closing their pleas 
in a case that has been on all day. A doctor sues, the County 
for making a post mortem examination; nothing of par- 
ticular interest only the attorney for the County is Win- 
throp, a Boston boy, and our sympathies are with him. 

Page Forty- rune 



Yesterday we were greatly amused by a Dutch witness who 
pretended not to speak EngHsh, and, after much waiting and 
vexation, an interpreter was procured. He proved a trump 
(if you understand that term). He soon provoked the wit- 
ness, who, losing his temper and self-control, broke out in 
the most vigorous kind of English, abusing the Court, coun- 
cil and Judge, greatly to their astonishment and the enter- 
tainment of spectators. 

"Baptist sociable tonight. I shan't go. I'm tired. I 
have some reading to do. Good night." 

April 11, 1859. Auditor's Office, Courthouse 

*'We have some Connecticut news today that next to letters 
I rejoice in. The St. Paul morning papers say, The Re- 
publicans have swept the state, — a string of Republican 
pearls,' etc., etc. Haven't you cheered a little, with a suit- 
able Republican enthusiasm such as every woman should 
have? I only hope this first news is true. I wish at this 
point to express my entire disgust with the elements for the 
past ten days. Their conduct has been out of season, and 
out of place, and out of taste. They have been up to all 
sorts of irregularities and eccentricities to the infinite dis- 
content of old settlers and fatal repulsion of new ones. I 
don't often speak on this subject, but the present case is 
one that has urged me out. I have been wholly absorbed 
with the duties of my new office since I came to it and think 
I shall like its duties We read The Siege of Val- 
encia' tonight at the Circle — I am 'Hernandes.' The sun is 
coming out — ominous, isn't it? " 



Page Fifty 



May. ''All the enjoyments that go to make up real true 
happiness are doubled by marriage. I do feel and believe 
that no source of pleasure before marriage should be checked 
or dried up by it ; and certainly in so blessed, so divine, so 
christianizing an accomplishment as music. If we enjoy it 
now, how should we enjoy it when we have realized the 
highest hope we have on earth. Tonight our quartet meets." 

Monday, May 30th. "I plan to leave here the last of 
the week, reaching Bristol on the evening of eighth or ninth 
of June." 

Harlow A. Gale and Elizabeth C. Griggs were married 
June 13, 1859, in the church of her father, Leverett Griggs, 
D. D., in Bristol, Connecticut. Their wedding trip was a 
journey to Minneapolis, to the city that was to remain their 
life home. 

Fades the rose ; the year grows old ; 
The tale is told ; 
Youth doth depart — 
Only stays the heart. 

Ah, no; if stays the heart, 

Youth can ne'er depart. 

Nor the sweet tale be told — 

Never the rose fade, nor the year grow old. 

— Richard Watson Gilder. 



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